Digital Commons Network^™

Spiritual Autobiographies: Sacred And Secular Explorations Of The Self, Ellen Delacey-Hathaway

Whittier Scholars Program

This project explains the contextual history of conversion and self discovery within literary and spiritual components. This research focuses on the exploration of the relationship of spiritual autobiography to secular autobiography and highlights any of the obvious or subtle differences between the two sub-genres. This study examines ideas presented in William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience and applying questions raised by James and other studies to demonstrate the essential similarities between secular and spirituality autobiography by showing threads of commonality between Henry Adams’ The Education of Henry Adams, Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain, and Saint Augustine’s Confessions.

From Innocence To Experience In William Blake's The Book Of Thel And The Visions Of The Daughters Of Albion, Ann B. Moutray

Masters Theses

My thesis focuses on William Blake's challenge of the conventional Christianity of his time and his questioning of what he perceived as the hypocritical moral codes of the Church of England. Blake blames these codes for dominating and imprisoning humanity by preventing individuals from acting through their use of the imagination. For Blake, the imagination does not simply imply a creation of the imaginative faculty; instead, it refers to an imagination that is transforming and that becomes a measure of salvation and deliverance from the man-made codes that imprison humanity. These codes, while originating from and propagated by the Church …

Reconsidering Essentialism For Feminist Composition Pedagogy: Adrienne Rich’S ‘Politics Of Location’ As A Theory Of Writerly Agency, Krista Ratcliffe

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Decapitating Romance: Class, Fetish, And Ideology In Keats’S Isabella, Diane Hoeveler

English Faculty Research and Publications

Critics of Keats's Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil (1818) traditionally focus on the poem's "transitional" status between the early Endymion and the later and much greater odes. This article reads the poem as a shocking and angry poem by interrogating the meanings of the decapitated head that lies at the core of the text. By interrogating the head I read the work as an expression of Keats's attempt to bury his grief for his parents' deaths, to repudiate his middle-class origins, and to deny his attraction to "Romance," the popular Gothic ballad tradition of his day. The text explores …

Postmortem Diagnoses Of Virginia Woolf's 'Madness': The Precarious Quest For Truth, Nancy Topping Bazin

English Faculty Publications

The reputation of British writer Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) is now well established. Her brilliance as a writer is seldom contested, and her place in the literary canon is assured. Whether interested in literary traditions, textual studies, applied feminism, or postmodern theory, most scholars and critics admire what she had to say and how she said it. The variety, volume, and quality of her writings are impressive; her skill as a writer is seen not only in her eight novels but also in her essays, diaries, letters, short stories, biographies and nonfictional works A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas …

Literature And The Evolution Of Religious Discourse: A Concluding Essay, John C. Hawley

English

Religion and literature do not play identical roles in society, but they both rely heavily on imagination. This book has provided an examination of representative writings from both fields to demonstrate this fact, and to suggest points at which the differences between the two disciplines become less important. Viewed together, these examples. raise interesting questions regarding the viability of discussing enduring truths outside the realms of imagination. This paradox, in turn, points to the limitations of rationality · in the pursuit of such truths, and the inevitability of subjectivity in the quest for the objectively true.

These are important philosophical …

Race And The Selection Of Picture Books, Susan Schmitt

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of the study was to investigate preference among kindergarten and second grade children's selection of picture books. The study was conducted with a bi-racial student population of kindergarten and second grade students. The students were given free choice selection of white character books and black character books. Results indicated a difference between kindergarten and second grade students. Kindergarten children significantly preferred books of like-race characters. In second grade, there was no significant difference in the preference of books. The combined data of kindergarten and second grade showed a significant difference in the preference of books.

Faith And Banishment: The Artistic Credo Of Katherine Anne Porter, Paul Richard Jaskunas

Honors Papers

In 1932 Katherine Anne Porter wrote to her brother from Paris, where she was living happily, about walking along the Quay and buying old maps of the New World: "I have already a French map of America made in 1631, and a French map of Virginia dated 1640. They are beautiful and inaccurate and I mean to have a lot of them." (Letters of Katherine Anne Porter, 78) The image of the old, absolute map floated right off the page as I read; it seemed to serve as the perfect metaphor for something in Porter's fiction that I had not …

A New Reading Of 'Ethan Brand': The Failed Quest, Mark Harris

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Examines how the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story `Ethan Brand' searched for what is considered the `unpardonable sin' of divorcing one's head from one's heart and oneself from humanity. Interpretation of symbolisms in the story; Analysis of the Puritan view of sin in relation to the story.

The Feminine Other: A Study Of The Women In Shakespeare's Major Tragedies, Kurt E. Wilamowski

Masters Theses

The central examination of this thesis concentrates on the essential contributions of the female characters in Shakespeare's major tragedies--Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. Without the women's conflict with the patriarchal order, the males would be unable to recognize and combat the corrupt elements in their society. The awareness of the female characters allows them to perceive the tainted patriarchal atmosphere they dwell in and operate within it as best as they can.

In short, each woman's individual field of awareness allows her to act as the executor of the dénoucement in the tragedy. Even …

A Thesis Without A Moral: Regarding Plum Bun And Quicksand, Dana Desjardins

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Composing The Scene: Coleridge And Picturesque Aesthetics, David W. Rogner

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Contemporary Gothicism: Straub's Shadowland, Rhonda Lee Brock

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations (1964–2006)

No abstract provided.

Demythifying Melville: Charles Johnson's Middle Passage And The Nightmare Of Slavery, Rachel Palencia '94

Honors Projects

When I first picked up Middle Passage, I was struck by an odd sense of familiarity, for having read "Benito Cereno" that same year, I immediately noted a connection to Melville. I became curious to determine not only the nature of that connection but also how an analysis of it might enhance an understanding of Johnson's text. I asked myself: "Why does Johnson deliberately choose to retell Melville?" A few reasons immediately suggested themselves: because Melville represents the canon of classic American literature and because he is an American writer who has adopted the 'European perspective of the empire. Moreover, …

Dostoevsky Speaks For Ford: A Dialogic Interpretation Of The Good Soldier, Michael Bonner

Theses : Honours

This thesis offers an original interpretation of Ford Madox Ford's novel, The Good Soldier, which focuses on the dialogic and intertextual qualities of Ford's writing. A representative body of previous critical analyses of the novel are reviewed to demonstrate that earlier interpretations, which have assessed the novel according to limited theories of epistemology or language, are inadequate to examine the social criteria for meaning that the novel invites. One of the tasks of this research is to show that the probable origins of Ford's dialogistic narrative modality lie in the writing of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Biographical materials are used to show …

Joyce Carol Oates As Postmodern Romantic: A Postmodern Feminist Critique Of A Bloodsmoor Romance And Foxfire: Confessions Of A Girl-Gang, Christian Hansen-Knarhoi

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

The Spectacle Of Suffering: Repetition And Closure In The Eighteenth-Century Gothic Novel, Rebecca E. Martin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the publication of The Castle of Otranto in 1764 initiated the genre of the gothic novel, critics have claimed that gothic endings are bland, inadequate, or otherwise unsatisfying. Analyzing works written in the period 1764 to 1820 by Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis, Charlotte Dacre, Mary-Anne Radcliffe, Mary and Percy Shelley and Charles Robert Maturin, this dissertation demonstrates that the focus on endings has blinded critics to the reader's source of pleasure in the gothic. I have drawn upon a representative sampling of novels to present a model of the interaction of reader and gothic text focused on …

The Changing Role And Portrayal Of 'The Individual' In Historical Context In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice And Emma, George Eliot's Middlemarch And Daniel Deronda, And Thomas Hardy's The Mayor Of Casterbridge And Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Juliana Payne

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In an analysis of six novels published in the nineteenth century, the thesis examines the changing role and portrayal of the 'individual' in Victorian fiction. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1816), George Eliot's Middlemarch (1872) and Daniel Deronda (1876), and Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) are analysed in depth. The discussion focuses on how the social and historical context shapes the development of theme, character and plot in the novels, especially focusing on literary conceptions of character as an individualistic being within the wider framework of society. The emphasis is …

Tales Newly Told, Alexei Kondratiev

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Hand, Elizabeth. Æstival Tide. Hand, Elizabeth. Winterlong

An Inklings Bibliography (48), Joe R. Christopher, Wayne G. Hammond

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Entries 42–59 in this series are written by Hammond (Tolkien material) and Christopher (Lewis and other material). See Hammond, Wayne G., for one later entry in this series.

Dark Sisters And Light Sisters: Sister Doubles And The Search For Sisterhood In The Mists Of Avalon And The White Raven, Melinda Hughes

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Examines the literary device of “doubling” in Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon and Paxson’s The White Raven, as expressed in the “surrogate sister” pairs of Morgaine/ Gwenhwyfar and Branwen/Esseilte.

Reviews, Nancy-Lou Patterson, Glen Goodknight

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

C.S. Lewis. Catherine Swift. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson.

The Tolkien Family Album. John and Priscilla Tolkien. Reviewed by Glen GoodKnight.

Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time. James Gurney. Reviewed by Glen GoodKnight.

The Golden Thread: Essays on George MacDonald. Walter Raeper. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson.

J.R.R. Tolkien, Architect of Middle-earth. Daniel Grotta. Reviewed by Glen GoodKnight.

Fish Soup. Ursula K. Le Guin. Reviewed by Nancy-Lou Patterson.

Lion Of Judah; Or, Son Of The Morning Nat Turner As Christ Imposter In William Styron's The Confessions Of Nat Turner, Daniel D. Clark

Honors Theses

William Styron's interest in the 1831 Nat Turner rebellion began during Styron's childhood and increased in importance as he Styron recalled reading a brief account of the uprising in a Virginia history textbook while in grammar school. This initial discovery gave birth to Styron's curiosity about Nat Turner. By the late forties Styron had read Thomas Gray's original Confessions of Nat Turner and had begun collecting historical documentation of the Turner revolt.

Nature And Technology: Angelic And Sacrificial Strategies In Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings, Gwyneth Hood

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Responds to critics who call Tolkien anti-science and anti-technology by showing that creatures of Middle-earth manipulate their environments, but in less obvious ways. Contrasts the “angelic” methods of elves with the “sacrificial” strategy of mortals.

Biblical Typology In Leguin's The Eye Of The Heron: Character, Structure, And Theme, Joel N. Feimer

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Noting it is only one of many sources for her world-making, examines biblical typology and figural elements from Le Guin’s The Eye of the Heron.

All Hell Into His Knapsack: The Spirit Of Play In Two Fairy Tales, Howard Canaan

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Examines psychological motifs and representations of the journey into maturity in two little-known Grimm fairy tales.

Touch Magic: The Importance Of Teaching Folktales To Emotionally Disturbed, Disabled Readers, Sandra J. Lindow

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Recounts the efficacy of folk-tales in teaching reading and language skills to reading-disabled and emotionally disturbed children and adolescents.

An Ozdessey In Plato, Michael Johnson

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Applies “a Platonic filter to the major plot line of The Wizard of Oz [...] construe[s] Baum’s book as if Plato had conceived it as one of his own myths.” Pays particular attention to Plato’s ideas of the human soul and psychology.

Letters, Patrick Wynne, Alexei Kondratiev, Joan Marie Verba

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

An Inklings Bibliography (50), Joe R. Christopher, Wayne G. Hammond

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Entries 42–59 in this series are written by Hammond (Tolkien material) and Christopher (Lewis and other material). See Hammond, Wayne G., for one later entry in this series.